Huffs and puffs from Abbott

Opposition Leader
Tony Abbott
has assured his colleagues they will have more time to decide on the federal government’s tough new rules on cigarette packaging, as the Coalition dismissed accusations it was siding with the cigarette industry.

Mr Abbott’s move turned a Coalition debate on the subject into a fizzer yesterday despite signals from some backbenchers that they wanted to support the plan to remove brand names from cigarette packs.

The Coalition could take another two months to decide on its position as the government waits on responses to draft laws before introducing the legislation into Parliament after the winter recess in July.

Taking a cautious approach to the Labor proposal, Mr Abbott told colleagues that the Coalition party room would not decide on its approach until the legislation was before Parliament and could be properly reviewed.

The approach matches Mr Abbott’s response to key budget measures and is aimed at preventing backbenchers being drawn into disputes on Labor’s terms and so distracting attention from the fight over the carbon tax.

Health Minister
Nicola Roxon
said the changes, which would replace cigarette brand names with images of disease that are meant to discourage smoking, were subject to consultation up to June 6.

“There’ll obviously be a period of time where any changes that might need to be made following that consultation will be considered, and it would be introduced in the second half of this year – most likely when we return after the break in sittings in July," she told reporters. Liberals dismissed the government’s accusations that the Coalition was siding with tobacco companies, saying they should see the policy details before taking a position.

West Australian senator Alan Eggleston, a former GP and obstetrician, told his colleagues yesterday that plain packaging might not work because smoking addicts would keep buying the products anyway. He acknowledged that a policy response could be needed and that higher tobacco excise might be justified because of the burden on the health system, and the federal budget, from diseases caused by smoking.

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WA Liberal Ken Wyatt told a Liberal Party meeting in Canberra yesterday that he would accept the Coalition party room’s decision on the matter.

While he was one of three MPs named yesterday as likely to side with Labor on the reforms, he said he would not cross the floor to vote against his colleagues.

Another Liberal and former GP,
Mal Washer
, would not comment and said through a spokeswoman that he was waiting to see the government’s legislation. The Nationals’ leader in the Senate,
Barnaby Joyce
, likened plain packaging to the removal of the cigarette companies’ property.